Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 3.djvu/137

Rh Overlooked for several years by an administration who did not always reward merit according to its deserts, he was now destined to receive that promotion to which, by his deeds, he had acquired so just a claim. On 14th September, 1787, he was raised to the rank of rear-admiral of the blue; and three years afterwards, he was invested with the same rank in the white squadron. On 1st February, 1793, he received promotion as vice-admiral of the blue, and, on 12th April, 1794, as vice-admiral of the white. On 1st June, 1795, he was appointed admiral of the blue, and of the white, on 14th February, 1799. At none of these successive steps of advancement, except the two last, was he in active service, although he had frequently solicited a command.

In February. 1795, he received the appointment of commander-in-chief of all the ships and vessels in the north seas : he first hoisted his flag on board the Prince George, of ninety guns, but afterwards removed to the Venerable, of seventy-four, a vessel of a more suitable size for the service in which he was about to engage, and one in which he afterwards rendered so glorious a service to his country.

History does not perhaps record a situation of more perplexing difficulty than that in which admiral Duncan found himself placed in the summer of 1797. For a considerable period he had maintained his station off the Dutch coast, in the face of a strong fleet, and in defiance of the seasons, and when it was known with certainty that his opponents were ready for sea, and anxious to effect a landing in Ireland, where they expected the co-operation of a numerous band of malcontents. At this most critical juncture, he was deserted by almost the whole of his fleet, the crews of his different ships having, with those of the channel fleet, and the fleet at the Nore, broken out into a mutiny, the most formidable recorded in history. With the assistance of a foreign force, Ireland was prepared for open rebellion; Scotland had its united societies; and England, too, was agitated by political discontent, when a spirit of a similar kind unhappily manifested itself in the British fleet. Early in the year of which we speak, petitions on the subject of pay and provisions had been addressed to lord Howe from every line of battle ship lying at Portsmouth, of which no notice whatever was taken. In consequence, on the return of the fleet to the port, an epistolary correspondence was held throughout the whole fleet, which ended in a resolution, that not an anchor should be lifted until a redress of grievances was obtained. Accordingly, on the 15th of April, when lord Bridport ordered the signal for the fleet to prepare for sea, the sailors on board his own ship, the Queen Charlotte, instead of weighing anchor, took to the shrouds, where they gave him three cheers, and their example was followed by every ship in the fleet. The officers were astonished, and exerted themselves, in vain, to bring back the men to a sense of their duty. Alarmed at the formidable nature of this combination, which was soon discovered to be extensively organized, the lords of the admiralty arrived on the 18th, and various proposals were immediately made to induce the men to return to their duty, but all their overtures were rejected. They were informed, indeed, that it was the determined purpose of the crews of all the ships to agree to nothing but that which should be sanctioned by parliament, and by the king's proclamation. In circumstances so alarming to the whole nation, government was compelled to make some important concessions, and a promise of his majesty's pardon to the offenders. These, after much deliberation, were accepted, and the men returaed to their duty with apparent satisfaction. The ringleaders of the mutiny were still, however, secretly employed in exciting the men to fresh acts of insubordination; and, taking hold of some parliamentary discussions which had recently been published, the mutiny was, in the course of fourteen days, revived at Spithead with more than its